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A bowl of Caesar Pasta Salad with Parmesan Crusted Chicken Croutons is surrounded by lettuce, cheese and creamy dressing.

Caesar Pasta Salad with Parmesan Crusted Chicken Croutons

A classic Caesar Salad just turned into a meal with the addition of your favourite pasta! A creamy tangy dressing brings everything together. The Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts are cut into cubes and become the croutons for this salad. A perfect picnic or potluck salad, or just a salad to live on during the week.
Course Main Course, Salad
Cuisine North American
Keyword Caesar Salad, Parmesan Chicken, pasta salad
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 6 minutes
Assemble 15 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts, can be made in advance

  • 2 chicken breasts, about 1 1/2 lb, or 680 grams
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp sweet paprika, anything but hot Hungarian paprika
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour, or your favourite gf cup for cup blend
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh herbs, such as thyme, parsley, chives or combination of them all
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Caesar Salad Dressing, can be made in advance

  • 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
  • 5 anchovy fillets, can be omitted, replace with extra dashes of Worchestershire sauce
  • juice of one lemon
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 egg yolks, can be coddled if you feel it
  • 2 good dashes of Worchestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, you can use more if you want the dressing extra creamy
  • salt and pepper

Caesar Pasta Salad, for four

  • 12 oz dry small pasta, rigatoni, penne, farfale, orrechiete, etc
  • 4-5 large handfuls of chopped baby romaine lettuce or other greens, see Notes
  • 8 rashers of bacon, cooked, and dried on paper towel, broken into bite sized pieces
  • 2 oz parmesan cheese to shave or grate in and over the salad

Instructions

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts, can be made in advance

  1. Take the chicken breasts and slice in half horizontally. This should make them approximately 1/4 inch thick. If still too thick, then place between wax paper and pound out till the correct thickness.
  2. Season both sides with a pinch of the salt, pepper and paprika.
  3. Set up three pie plates or large shallow bowls in an assembly line. Put the flour in the first pie plate. Beat the eggs in the second pie plate. Combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and chopped fresh herbs in the third pie plate.
  4. Divide the remaining salt, pepper and paprika between each pie plate and stir to combine well.
  5. Dredge a chicken breast in the flour to cover all sides, and shake off the excess. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture and turn to coat evenly, letting any excess egg drip off. Finally, dredge the chicken in the bread crumb mixture, pressing down to coat well It may take a few turns to get it all covered. Set breaded chicken on a small baking sheet, and repeat until all of the chicken breasts are breaded.
  6. Heat the butter and oil in a large sauté pan over medium to medium-high heat. Only when the butter and oil are hot, add the chicken breasts gently to the pan. Do not disturb for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the first side is golden brown. Flip and continue cooking until done, 2 to 3 minutes longer.
  7. Transfer the chicken breasts to a paper towel lined wire rack.

Caesar Salad Dressing, can be made in advance

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a large glass jar and use an immersion blender to completely blend till smooth. Taste and re-season as desired. Place a lid on the jar and store in the fridge till needed. Alternatively, you can use a blender or other preferred method to blend well. If in the fridge too long, it will stiffen up, so bring out to room temperature before using.

Caesar Pasta Salad

  1. Cook the pasta as per the package directions. Drain in a colander or strainer. Place in a bowl to cool down. Combine 2 tbsp of the dressing and two tbsp of olive oil. Pour this over the pasta and toss. As it cools down it will absorb the flavour and the liquid will help keep the pasta from sticking together.

Assemble

  1. In a large serving bowl combine the cooled pasta, lettuce, most of the bacon, most of the parmesan cheese.
  2. Take the cooled Parmesan Chicken Breasts and cut into large bite sized croutons. Add most of these to the salad.
  3. Pour 1/3 or so cup of the dressing over everthing and toss gently. Taste and see if you like the amount of dressing, if not, drizzle some more evenly over the salad. Garnish with the remaining bacon, parmesan cheese, and chicken croutons.

  4. See blog post for more details and serving suggestions

Recipe Notes

Feel free to make the chicken ahead of time. It can be served warm or room temperature. It can be re-heated in an air fryer, toaster oven, or skillet till warmed through.
Use whichever lettuce you like. Baby romaine, romaine hearts, baby kale, brussels sprouts, even broccoli, frisee, etc will are work great!
Feel free to double the amount of dressing, it will last a few weeks in the fridge.
Leftovers of the salad will keep in a sealed container in the fridge. Serve with extra dressing to loosen it up the next day.